JULY 12, 2022, BETIM, BRAZIL, was the home for the IBJJF’s latest incursion into South American territory this past weekend. The IBJJF Betim Open took place in the Minas Gerais state, one of the strongest in the jiu-jitsu world, being the birthplace for many international stars such as Marcelo Garcia, Lucas Lepri, Rômulo Barral, Felipe Pena, to name a few.
As expected many well-known athletes from the state joined the tournament, including Vinicius Pereira, Marcelo Gomide, Leonardo Andrade, Oziel Santos, to name a few, but also competitors from all around the country, including MG’s neighboring state, Rio de Janeiro, where GF Team is located, a squad that brought forward a lot of heavy hitters to the show.
One of the big revelations of the tournament was ultra-heavyweight talent, Cleyton Flores of São Paulo. Although not a rookie in the grappling game, Cleyton has shown great form as of late and proved it once again in Minas Gerais with a gold medal performance. Flores beat a few big names of the sport, including the aforementioned Leonardo Andrade (Team Preguiça), Darlan Casaca, and Gabriel Volante, applying his solid top game and his trademarked standing wristlock (2x), a position that sent to of his opponents to the nurse’s stool.
Equally interesting was the performance of another veteran who is on the rise, André Ygor of Checkmat Buzios. Ygor has been on fire lately, in the Brazilian scene, and this weekend was no different, taking gold in the middleweight division with wins over the always tough Matheus Batista, rising star Gabriel Avila (with a beautiful Hashimto choke), and Everton Freitas.
In the heavyweight and super-heavyweight divisions, we had two of the weekend’s most anticipated showdowns, those of São Paulo’s Rider Zuchi vs Gabriel Henrique Oliveira (World bronze medalist), and Marcelo Gomide against Pedro “Chupeta” Elias. Both matches ended with a 2×0 score via sweep, for teammates Zuchi and Pedro Elias.
Also worthy of mention was Marcelo Gomide‘s performance in the open-weight class. Gomide is currently one of the better black belts in the Minas Gerais state who had been attempting to keep active as a competitor while coaching at his local Gracie Barra gym, and also studying at the university. The relentless pace of his life proved to be detrimental to his career on the mats as his record suffered a few disappointing losses in 2021. Last April, Marcelo decided to put everything on hold to pursue a competitive career, a commitment that is now showing to be beneficial as attested by this weekend’s open weight gold medal (and silver in his weight class).
Below are the results for this weekend’s action.
MALE / ADULT / BLACK / PLUMA
#1 Leonardo Pereira Júnior (PSLPB)
#2 Welerson Gonçalves (Nova União)
#3 Kaue Arantes (Gracie Barra)
#3 Oziel Santos (Gracie Barra)
MALE / ADULT / BLACK / PENA
#1 Artur Oliveira (GF Team)
#2 Jhonatha Angelim (GF Team)
#3 Iago Oliveira (RL Team)
#3 Renan Soares (Familia Marcio Frank)
MALE / ADULT / BLACK / LEVE
#1 Jadson Santos (GF Team)
#2 Vinicius Pereira (Gracie Barra)
#3 Iranslav Neoral (Alicerce JJ)
#3 Mateus Garcia (Atrium)
MALE / ADULT / BLACK / MÉDIO
#1 Andre Ygor (CheckMat)
#2 Everton Freitas (Núcleo)
#3 Elder Gomes Júnior (JFC Almeida)
#3 Gabriel Machado (Equipe Hugo Velasco)
MALE / ADULT / BLACK / MEIO-PESADO
#1 Vítor Peres (Gracie Barra)
#2 Rafael Paganini (Dream Art)
#3 Erick Diovano Souza (GF Team)
#3 Marlon Ferreira (GF Team)
MALE / ADULT / BLACK / PESADO
#1 Rider Zuchi (Ns Brotherhood)
#2 Gabriel Henrique Oliveira (Alliance)
#3 Matheus Marques (GF Team)
#3 Walisson Pardim (Gracie Barra)
MALE / ADULT / BLACK / SUPER PESADO
#1 Pedro Elias (Ns Brotherhood)
#2 Marcelo Gomide (Gracie Barra)
#3 Kelvin Cruz (De La Riva)
#3 Max Weslei (Gracie Barra)
MALE / ADULT / BLACK / PESADÍSSIMO
#1 Cleyton Flores (Team Cruz)
#2 Luiz Marcos Medeiros Bonfim Júnior (Double Five)
#3 Leonardo Andrade (Gracie Barra)
#3 Otavio Nalati (Guigo)
MALE / ADULT / BLACK / OPEN CLASS
#1 Marcelo Gomide (Gracie Barra)
#2 Gabriel Henrique Oliveira (Alliance)
#3 Cleyton Flores (Team Cruz)
#3 Rafael Paganini (Dream Art)
FEMALE / ADULT / BLACK / LEVE
#1 Izabel Seki (Faconti)
#2 Carolina Gomes (Alan Fernandes Team)
FEMALE / ADULT / BLACK / MÉDIO
#1 Ana Soares (Ubuntu)
FEMALE / ADULT / BLACK / MEIO-PESADO
#1 Raiane Santos (Gracie Barra)
FEMALE / ADULT / BLACK / PESADO
#1 Amanda Magda de Oliveira (LR Extreme)
#2 Graciele Del Fava (Guigo)
#3 Isabela Resende (Gracie Barra)
FEMALE / ADULT / BLACK / SUPER PESADO
#1 Fernanda Mazzelli (Striker)
FEMALE / ADULT / BLACK / OPEN CLASS
#1 Fernanda Mazzelli (Striker)
#2 Amanda Magda de Oliveira (LR Extreme)
#3 Ana Virginia Soares (Ubuntu)
#3 Carolina Gomes (Alan Fernandes Team)
